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Sunday, September 6, 2009

Why I Love YouTube...

You can probably tell that I am new to this whole blogger/online social "thing." It is fascinating to me. And frustrating... if you only knew how long it took me to figure out how to make this post work, you'd laugh your asses off!

Anyway, one of the many nice things about YouTube, I've found, is that there is A LOT of Broadway stuff on there. Great edits of Tony Awards scenes, some (tsk tsk) "footwear" from performances, and my favorite, old Broadway show commercials. Why do I love these? Well, I don't live in or near New York City, so I don't see these on TV. And the ones I do see from touring shows are annoyingly short on content long on advertising our local venue.

Well, now that I've figured out how to do this, I thought I'd post a couple of my favorites. First up is RENT. When I first saw this, I thought it was for the movie version, as there are scenes in actual locations. But it is the Broadway (not original) Cast, afterall! I think this would make me want to see the show... what do you think?

Here's another, that is actually three commercials: The first is for Grand Hotel: The Musical, the second is also for Grand Hotel: The Musical, but is an audience testimonial, and the third is for the Broadway production of The Will Rogers Follies, which had just won several Tonys, including Best Musical.

I think the first Grand Hotel would definitely make me want to buy a ticket... it looks sexy, dance-y, mysterious and glamourous. The second Grand Hotel, however, would be a complete turn off. The woman is enthusiastic, but ANNOYING. (Of course, those type of commercials are a distant relative to today's texts, emails, blogs and Tweets. The only thing missing is the annoying voice-over!" And The Will Rogers Follies one would get me to the box office, too, if only just to see those stairs in action. Plus, I love the snarky little bit at the end with Keith Carradine reading their NYT ad and laughing at it.

Finally, here is a much longer commercial for The Will Rogers Follies, using B Roll footage from one of the National Tours. This is the kind of thing musical theatre fans drool over, myself included. Sign me up to see it!

Well, I had the good fortune to actually see all three shows on Broadway, with the original casts, so perhaps my take on the commercials is a bit skewed, as I know what they are advertising. I wonder what I'd think of an ad for a show I'd not seen yet. Sounds like another blog post to me!

Let me know what you think of these ads, tell me about your favorites, and I'll post more!

About Me

MAJOR theatre enthusiast! Love the Divas, the Broadway Boys. I mostly enjoy musicals, but lately have come to even seek out a good play. Theatre is my passion, a passion I hope to share with many others.

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